Dramatic shifts in the retail grocery business continue to create opportunities for asset-based lenders and private-equity investors, a Tiger Group expert noted in a Sept. 12 panel discussion with colleagues.

Given what Spence Mehl calls “a bloodbath of bankruptcies” in the retail space in 2008 and 2009, last year brought surprisingly fewer bankruptcies than most had anticipated. And while bankruptcy still loomed heavily for nearly all the big chains in 2010, the difference was that retailers themselves executed their own top-to-bottom restructuring plans. But, Mehl warns, retailers aren’t out of the woods yet.